Apparatus for processing materials



June 20, 1 944.

W. MODEL APPARATUS'FOR PROCESSING MATERIALS Filed Dec. 13, 1940 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Wm maa, llullgarl-Fcucrbarb Filo nay.-

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June 20, 1944. w. MODEL APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING MATERIALs Filed Dec. 15, 1940 3 Shee-ts-Sh'eet 2 Jm emor Willie/m Model,

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June 20, 1944. w MODEL 2,351,995

APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING MATERIALS Filed Dec. 15, 1940 s Sheets-Sheet 3' Eg s In venlor': Ni /balm 'Nadel, I

v flalfgo'lri-Feuerbazb Flier/10y Patented June 20, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE:

APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING MATERIALS Wilhelm Model, Stuttgart-Feuerbach, Germany; vested in the Alien Property Custodian.

Application December 13, 19-40, Serial No. 369,982

In Germany November 18, 1939 17 Claims.

in View of the lack of control apparatus or, where such apparatus is provided, in view of its complicated and unreliable working.

The present invention overcomes these difficulties by the provision of means for setting or predetermining the duration of treatment and automatically controlling-the cessation of operation and the ejectionor dischargeof the treated goods, as well as automatically resetting themachine for another cycle of operation.

The invention is not limited to use with fruits or potato peeling or cleaning machines although it is described in connectionv with such machines, and it is, therefore, understood that the designation particulate materials or goods to be treated or equivalent language used in this specification and in the appended claims are intended, unless stated otherwise, to'cover broadly goods that may be subjected to surface treatment such as cleaning, washing, peeling or separating of impurities. a

The invention, briefly described, is incorporated in the example shown herein in a machine having an upper treatment chamber and driving as well as control apparatus disposedbelow the same. The goods are inserted into the treatment chamber and are kept in motion or circulation by an agitator which may be made in the shape of a suitable disk. The drive shaft projects through the bottom of the treatment chamber and carries a spur gear at its lower end engaging another spur gear on an auxiliary shaft which is equipped with a vertically disposed worm. The latter engages a worm gear mounted on two oppositely disposed levers which are journaled on a shaft in such a manner that the worm gear with its levers can swing out of engagement with the vertically disposed worm. The worm gear is made in the shape of a disk wheel and constitutes a control member of the apparatus. Presuming that this disengaged condition exists, nothing will happen responsive to the rotation of the drive shaft. However, the gear wheel or disk or control member noted above is arranged so that it engages the worm drive for operation as soon as the goods'are placed in the machine. The rotation of the drive shaft will therefore also drive the control gear disk. This disk, in the example described herein, carries two angularly disposed cams, one on each side thereof, and can be angularly set inany desired position so as to determine the duration of effective operation of the machine. T I

"During the operation the control worm disk or wheel rotates and the cams thereon are thus angularly advanced in a certain ratio to the speed of the agitator in the treatment chamber, this ratio being-determined by the gearing between these parts. One cam cooperates with and actuates after the lapse of a certain time alever system which unlocks and opens a discharge gate for ejecting the finished goods. The other cam subsequently actuates a lever system which releases the control gear wheel from engagement with the drive worm. The apparatus .is now operatively ineffective. Upon closure of the discharge gate and insertion of a new batch of goods through a supply gate, the

cam carrying control gear wheel is again autoworm and the new operating cycle can begin.

- The above intimated objects .and other objects and features will be pointed out in the detailed description rendered below with reference to the drawings, wherein I Fig. 1 indicates'an embodiment of the invention applied to a potato peeling and/or cleaning machine, the machine being shown schematically in section;

Fig. 2 is another side view of the machine taken at a right angle to Fig. 1, the upper part being shown in plane View and the lower part in section to illustrate thecontrol means more clearly;

Fig. 3 shows a section of the machine taken along the line- A-B in Fig.1; and

Fig. 4 illustrates a top View looking down at the machine in the direction of the arrow C in Fig. 1. v

Referring now to the drawings, numeral l indicates a vertical drive shaft journaled in a bearing 2 and carrying the agitator disk 3 disposed in the treatment chamber. The drive is accomplished by means of the bevel gears 4 and 5 the latter being on a shaft which carries the pulley or drive member 6. A spur gear 1 is provided at the lower end of the drive shaft I and engages a spur gear 8. This latter spur gear actuates the control drive worm 9. The control member I is a worm gear disk or wheel for engagement with the worm'9. It carries two cams II and I I a, one on each side of the disk. It will be noted that these cams are angularly displaced on the disk so that they will successively come into operation to release certain control devices.

The two cams II and Ila can be angularly set in any predetermined position by means of a pulley system comprising the rope I2, one end of which is anchored upon the shaft l4 and the other end of which is anchored at a screw mounted on a bracket and operated by means the other end with one of the levers 22.

of a knurled nut I6. The gea'r wheel I0 is fixedly I attached to the shaft I4. Therefore, "an" actu ation of the nut I6 either slackening or shortening the rope I2 will cause rotation of the shaft I4 and with it of the control disk In thus angularly displacing or putting the cams II or IIa discharge gate release bar I8 upwardly. The

upper end of this bar releases the latch or look mechanism 30 to permit the gate I9 to swing open by the tension of the release spring 4 I, The finished goods are now discharged through the e at The cam Ila, subsequent to the above described operation, actuates mechanism causing the disengagement of the control gear Wheel ID from the drive worm 9. This is best described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The control gear wheel I 0 is, as noted above, mounted on the shaft I4 which is held by two oppositely disposed levers 22. These lever arms are angularly shaped as noted in Fig. 1 at 24 and are journaled at 23. They are connected together by means of bars or ribs 25 and'26 (Fig. 2). The pulley system 29, 29 is anchored at the rib or bar 21. The rope 28 is slackened'as shown in Fig. 1 so that the control disk or gear wheel I0 can swing from its position shown in the drawings at the time when the treatment of the goods is completed. The other end of the rope 28 is anchored at 32 :onthe supply gate lever 39.

The release of the control disk I0 and its carriers is accomplished through th medium of thelever system comprising the lever 34 which is journaled at 33 below th worm 9. This lever carries a weight 36 so as to hold it in the position'shown in Fig. 1. At its free end the lever 34 is provided with a groove 40 adapted to en'- gage the rib or bar 25 which connects the two lever arms 22. In the position shown in Fig. 1 the lever 34 is lockedtogether with the bar 25, thus holding the levers 22 and therefore the control disk I0 in driving engagement with worm 9.

As the rotation of the drive shaft advances, the cam Ila. will. advance in anti-clockwise directionand will finally engage the release pin 31 now swing in anti-clockwise direction around the fulcrum 23 out of driving engagement with the worm 9. The mechanism i now idling.

This adjuste The discharge gate I9 is open, the finished goods having been ejected, and the control disk I0 is out of driving engagement with worm 9 and has rotated back in clockwise direction to the initial angular position in which it i shown in the drawings.

The automatic return of the control gear Wheel I0 into its initial angular position is accomplished by means of the spring 42 (Figs. 2 and 3), one end of which is connected with the shaft I4 and The shaft I4 is fixedly connected with the control gear wheel I0, and the wheel therefore follows the-rotation of the shaft.

The effective operative operation of the control gear wheel III by means of the drive worm 9 tensions the spring 42 and, therefore, when the disk I0 is removed from engagement with worm 9 the tension of the spring 42 returns it into its initial angular position which was previously determined by the operation of the rope and pulley system I2.

When it is desired to operate the machine through another cycle of operation, the goods will be inserted in the treatment chamber through the top lid or supp y gate 38. This gate is connected through the pulley system 28, 29 with the carrier levers 22 of the control gear Wheel I0. The actuation of the gate lever 39 incident to inserting the goods into the treatment chamber tensions the rope 28, thereby swinging the lever 22 in clockwise direction and bringing about the driving engagement of the contro gear wheel ID with the drive worm 9.

Changes may be made within the scope and spirit of the following claim wherein I have defined what I consider new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent of the United States.

I claim as my invention:

1. A machine for subjecting homogeneous particulate material to surface cleaning treatment of the particles thereof, comprising a treatment chamber for receiving said material, an agitator in said chamber for agitating the material to effect the treatment thereof, a discharge gate for removing the cleaned material from said chamber, control means connected to said gate for automatically opening said gate after a predetermined movement of said agitator said control means comprising a rotatable disc, means for adjusting the angular position of said disc, gear means for rotating said disc, a first cam carried by said disc on one side thereof means operable by said first cam for actuating said gate, additional cam means carried by said disc on the other side thereof, and means operable by said additional cam means for releasing said disc from engagement with said gear means.

2. A machine for subjecting homogeneous particulate material to surface cleaning treatment of the particles thereof, comprising a treatment chamber for receiving said material, an agitator in said chamber for agitating the material to effect the treatment thereof, a discharge gate for removing the cleaned material from said chamber, control means connected to said gate for automatically opening said gate after a predetermined movement of said agitator said control means comprising a rotatable disc, means for adjusting the angular position of said disc, gear means for rotating the disc, cam means carried by said disc, means operable by said cam means for actuating said gate, additional cam means on said disc, means operable by said additional cam means for releasing said'disc from engagement with said gear means, a supply gate for said machine, and-means efiective upon actuation of said supply gate for again efiec'ting the engagement of said disowith saidgear means.

3. A machine for subjecting homogeneous particulate material to surface cleaning treatment "of the particles thereof, comprising a treatment chamber for receiving said material, an agitator in said chamber for agitating the material to effect the treatment thereof, a discharge gate for removing the cleaned material from said chamber, control means connected to saidgate for automatically opening said gate after a predetermined movement of said agitator aidcontrol means comprising a rotatable disc, means for adjusting the initial angular position of said disc, gear means for rotating the disc, cam means carried by said disc and means operable thereby for actuating said discharge gate, additional cam means on said disc and means operable thereby for disengaging said disc from said gear means, means for returning the disc to its original angular position, a supply gate for said machine, and means efiective upon actuation of said supply gate for again efiecting the engagement of said disc with said gear means.

4. In a machine for subjecting goods to surface treatment of the class described, a chamber for receiving said goods, a supply gate and a discharge gate for said chamber, an agitator in said chamber, drive means for moving said agitator, a worm gear and ear means coupled with said drive means for actuating said worm gear, a gear wheel for driving engagement with said worm gear, a plurality of cams on said gear wheel for successively actuating said discharge gate and for releasing the engagementof said gear Wheel with said worm gear upon completion of said treatment, and means actuated by the operation of said supply gate incident to starting the operation of said machine for effecting a treatment for restoring the driving engagement of said gear Wheel with said worm gear.

5. In a potato cleaning machine having a treatment chamber for receiving the goods and a disc-like rotatable agitator in said chamber for agitating said goods to' efiect the cleaning thereof together with a vertically disposed'shaft projecting downwardly through the bottom of said treatment chamber for driving'said agitator, a

spur gear carried at the end of said shaft and engaging a spur gear adjacent thereof, a worm driven by said second spur gear, a gear wheel constituting a control member of the machine for engagementwith said worm, a discharge gate for removing the goods from said chamber, cam means projecting laterally from the side of said gear Wheel, lever means actuated by said cam means incident to the rotation of said gear wheel, and link means operated by said lever means and connected to said gate for automatically opening said discharge gate after a predetermined movement of said agitator.

6. The machine structure and combination defined in claim 5, together with means for determining the initial angular position of said control gear wheel and the cam means thereon with respect to said lever means.

'7. The machine structure and combination defined in claim 5, together with means for determining the initial angular position of said control wheel and cam means thereon with respect to said lever means, a carrier for said control gear wheel comprising two oppositely disposed levers journaled at one end, additional cam means on said control gear wheel, and lever means actuated by said additional cam means for releasing said gear "wheel from driving engageinent with said'worm gear;

8.. The machine structure and combination defined in claim 5, together with means for determining th initial angular position of said control gear wheel and cam means thereon with respect to said lever means, a carrier for said control gear Wheel comprising a pair of oppositely disposed levers journaled at one end, additional cam means on said control gear wheel, lever means actuated by said additional cam means for releasin'g'said control gear wheel'- from driving engagement with said worm gear, a supply gate, and means actuated by -the operation of said supply gate for restoring the driving engagement of said control gear wheel with said worm gear.

9. In a material processing machine of the class described, the combination of a material discharge gate with control means therefor to cause automatic operative actuation thereof at the conclusion of an operating cycle comprising a Worm gear, a control gear wheel for driving engagement therewith, cam meanscarried by said gear wheel and rigidly connected therewith, means for adjusting" the normal angular posi-'- tion of said gear wheel and the cammeans thereon, a'lever operable by saidcam means for operat'ively actuating said gate,"additiona1 cam means on said gear wheel, means operable by said additional cam means for removing said'gear wheel from driving engagement with said worm gear, a supply gate for said machine, and means'actuated'by said supply gate for restoring said driving engagement. I

11; In combination, means forming a chamber for receiving homogeneous particulate ma terial for surface cleaning treatment of the particles thereof a lid for supplying material tosaid chamber, a discharge gate for ejecting the cleaned material ltherefrom,a control device, a control gear for driving "said control device, means for movably mounting said control device relative to said control gear to efiect driving'engageme'nt therewith and disengagement there- 'rom,-means, connected With said lid for effect ing such'drivi'ng engagement after supplying material to said housing for cleaningtherein, means operated by said control device upon completion of a predetermined movement and conne'cted'to said gate for automatically opening said discharge gate to eject thecleaned material, and means subsequently operated by said" control do vice for eifectin'g disengagement thereof from said control gear.

12. The combination and structure defined in claim 1 together with means for variably adjusting said control device to determine the time of treatment of material in said chamber.

13. In a machine for cleaning potatoes and the like having a housing forming a chamber and provided with a lid for supplying said potatoes to said chamber for cleaning therein anda gate for the discharge of'said potatoes upon completion of the cleaning thereof together with a rotatable agitator in said housing and a drive shaft therefor extending therefrom, control gear means driven by said drive shaft, a control device for driving engagement with said control gear means, and means operatively actuated by said control device upon completion of the cleaning of said potatoes for automatically opening said discharge gate, said control device-being movably mounted relative to said control gear means to effect driving engagementtherewith and disengagement therefrom, together with means operatively actuated by said control device for effecting disengagement thereof from said control gear means subsequently to the opening of said discharge gate.

14; In a machine for cleaning potatoes and the like having a housing forming a chamber and provided with a lid for supplying said potatoes to said chamber for cleaning therein and a gate for the discharge of said potatoes upon completion of the cleaning thereof together with a rotatable agitator in said housingand a drive shaft'therefor extending therefrom, control gear means driven by said drive shaft, a control device for driving engagement with said control gear means, and means operatively actuated by said control'device upon completion of the cleaning of said potatoes for automatically opening said discharge gate,,said control device being movably mounted relative to said control gear means to effect driving engagement therewith and disengagement therefrom, together with means operatively actuated by said control device for effecting disengagement thereof from said control gear means subsequently to the opening of said discharge gate, and meansconnected with said lid for effecting the operative re -engagement of said control device with saidcontrol gear means subsequently to supplying potatoes to said chamber for cleaning therein.

15. In a machine for cleaning potatoes and the like having a housing forming a chamber and provided with a lid for supplying said potatoes to said chamber for cleaning therein and a gate for the discharge of said potatoes upon completion of the cleaning thereof together with a. rotatable agitator in said housing and a drive shaft therefor extending therefrom, control gear means driven by said drive shaft, said control gear means comprising a rotatable shaft disposed in parallel with the axis of said drive shaft, a spur gear at one end of said rotatable shaft, a spur gear on said drive shaft meshing therewith, and a worm operated by said spur gears for driving engagementwith the control device, a control device for driving engagement with said control gear means, and means operatively actuated by said control device upon completion of the cleaning of said potatoes for automatically opening said discharge gate.

16. In a machine for cleaning potatoes and the like having a housing forming a chamber and provided with a lid for supplying said potatoes to said chamber for cleaning therein and a gate for the discharge of said potatoes upon completion of the cleaning thereof together with a rotatable agitator in said housing and a drive shaft therefor extending therefrom, control gear means driven by said drive shaft, a control device for driving engagement with saidcontrol gear means, said control device comprises a pivotally mounted frame, a rotatable shaft carried by said frame and carrying a gear wheel keyed thereto for driving engagement with said control gear means, cam means carried on saidgear wheel and rigidly projecting therefrom on one side thereof, link meanscontrolled by said cam means for effecting the automatic operation of said discharge gate, and means for adjusting the initial angular position of said gear Wheel and the cam means thereon to determine the time of operative actuation-of said discharge gate by said link means, and means operatively actuated by said control device upon completion of the cleaning of said potatoes for automatically opening said discharge gate.

17. In a machine for cleaning potatoes and the like having a housing forming a chamber and provided with a lid for supplying'said potatoes to said chamber for cleaning therein and a gate for the discharge of said potatoes upon completion of the cleaning thereof together with a rotatable agitator in said housing and a drive shaft therefor extending therefrom, control gear means driven by said drive shaft, a control device for driving engagement with said control gear means, said control device comprising a gear wheel, cam means on said gear wheel rigidly and laterally projecting therefrom, a shaft keyed to said gear wheel and projecting therefrom on either side thereof, a frame having a pair of spaced arms for rotatably mounting said shaft, means for pivotally mounting the arms of said frame at one end thereof to dispose said gear Wheel movable relatively to said control gear means for effecting driving engagement therewith and disengagement therefrom, means connected with said lid for effecting said driving engagement after supplying potatoes to said chamber for cleaning therein, locking means for maintaining said driving engagement, link means operated by said cam means for actuating said discharge gate, means subsequently actuated by said cam means for releasing said locking means to effect disengagement of said gear wheel from said control gear means, and means operatively actuated by said control device upon completion of the cleaning of said potatoes for automati cally opening said discharge gate,

WILHELM MODEL.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent no, 2, 1,995. June 20, 19th.

WILEELM MODEL.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 5, second column, line 18, after the words and period "worm gear." insert the following claim 9. In a material processing machine of the class described, the'combination ofa material discharge gate with control means therefor to cause automatic oper ti actuation thereof at the conclusion of an operating cycle comprising a worm gear, a control gear wheel for driving engagement therewith, 'cammeans carried by said gear wheel and rigidly connected therewith, means for adjusting the normal angular position of said gear wheel and the means thereon, a lever operable by said cam means for operatively actuating said gate, additional cam means on said gear wheel, and means operable by said additional cam means for removing said gear wheel from drivingengagement with said worm gear-.

line 19, for the claim now appearing as "9" read -lO-; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 15th day of August, A. D. 19th.

Leslie Frazer (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

